The non-destructive estimation of plant nitrogen (N) status is imperative for timely and in-season crop N management. The objectives of this study were to use canopy cover (CC) to establish the empirical relations between plant growth indices [shoot dry matter (SDM), leaf area index (LAI), shoot N accumulation (SNA), shoot nitrogen concentration (SNC)], and CC as well as to test the feasibility of using CC to assess N nutrition index (NNI) from Feekes 3 to Feekes 6 stages of winter wheat. Four multi-locational (2 sites), multi-cultivars (four cultivars), and multi-N rates (0-300 kg N ha-1) field experiments were carried out during 2016 to 2018 seasons. The digital images of the canopy were captured by a digital camera from Feekes 3 to Feekes 6 stages of winter wheat, while SDM, LAI, SNA, and SNC were measured by destructive plant sampling. CC was calculated from digital images developed by self-programmed software. CC showed significant correlations with growth indices (SDM, LAI, and SNA) across the different cultivars and N treatments, except for SNC. However, the stability of these empirical models was affected by cultivar characteristics and N application rates. Plant N status of winter wheat was assessed using CC through two methods (direct and indirect methods). The direct and indirect methods failed to develop a unified linear regression to estimate NNI owing to the high dispersion of winter wheat SNC during its early growth stages. The relationships of CC with SDM, SNC and NNI developed at individual growth stages of winter wheat using both methods were highly significant. The relationships developed at individual growth stages did not need to consider the effect of N dilution process, yet their stability is influenced by cultivar characteristics. This study revealed that CC has larger limitation to be used as a proxy to manage the crop growth and N nutrition during the early growth period of winter wheat despite it is an easily measured index.Biomass is an important indicator for evaluating crops. The rapid, accurate and nondestructive monitoring of biomass is the key to smart agriculture and precision agriculture. Traditional detection methods are based on destructive measurements. Although satellite remote sensing, manned airborne equipment, and vehicle-mounted equipment can nondestructively collect measurements, they are limited by low accuracy, poor flexibility, and high cost. As nondestructive remote sensing equipment with high precision, high flexibility, and low-cost, unmanned aerial systems (UAS) have been widely used to monitor crop biomass. In this review, UAS platforms and sensors, biomass indices, and data analysis methods are presented. The improvements of UAS in monitoring crop biomass in recent years are introduced, and multisensor fusion, multi-index fusion, the consideration of features not directly related to monitoring biomass, the adoption of advanced algorithms and the use of low-cost sensors are reviewed to highlight the potential for monitoring crop biomass with UAS. Considering the progress made to solve this type of problem, we also suggest some directions for future research. Furthermore, it is expected that the challenge of UAS promotion will be overcome in the future, which is conducive to the realization of smart agriculture and precision agriculture.Spatial separation of the photosynthetic reactions is a key feature of C4 metabolism. In most C4 plants, this separation requires compartmentation of photosynthetic enzymes between mesophyll (M) and bundle sheath (BS) cells. The upstream region of the gene encoding the maize PHOSPHOENOLPYRUVATE CARBOXYLASE 1 (ZmPEPC1) has been shown sufficient to drive M-specific ZmPEPC1 gene expression. Although this region has been well characterized, to date, only few trans-factors involved in the ZmPEPC1 gene regulation were identified. Here, using a yeast one-hybrid approach, we have identified three novel maize transcription factors ZmHB87, ZmCPP8, and ZmOrphan94 as binding to the ZmPEPC1 upstream region. Bimolecular fluorescence complementation assays in maize M protoplasts unveiled that ZmOrphan94 forms homodimers and interacts with ZmCPP8 and with two other ZmPEPC1 regulators previously reported, ZmbHLH80 and ZmbHLH90. Trans-activation assays in maize M protoplasts unveiled that ZmHB87 does not have a clear transcriptional activity, whereas ZmCPP8 and ZmOrphan94 act as activator and repressor, respectively. Moreover, we observed that ZmOrphan94 reduces the trans-activation activity of both activators ZmCPP8 and ZmbHLH90. Using the electromobility shift assay, we showed that ZmOrphan94 binds to several cis-elements present in the ZmPEPC1 upstream region and one of these cis-elements overlaps with the ZmbHLH90 binding site. Gene expression analysis revealed that ZmOrphan94 is preferentially expressed in the BS cells, suggesting that ZmOrphan94 is part of a transcriptional regulatory network downregulating ZmPEPC1 transcript level in the BS cells. Based on both this and our previous work, we propose a model underpinning the importance of a regulatory mechanism within BS cells that contributes to the M-specific ZmPEPC1 gene expression.Among plants, gender dimorphism occurs in about 10% of all angiosperms and more than 50% of all moss taxa, with dwarf males (DM) found exclusively in some unisexual mosses. In this study, we explore the role of male dwarfism as a reproductive strategy in the widespread acrocarpous moss Dicranum scoparium, which has facultative male dwarfism, having both dwarf males (DMs) and normal-sized males (NMs). We retrieved 119 SNP markers from transcriptomes which were used to genotype 403 samples from 11 sites at seven localities in southern Sweden. Our aims were to compare the genetic variability and genetic structure of sexually reproducing populations at different geographic levels (cushion, site, and locality) and compare in particular the relative contribution of females, dwarf males and normal-sized males to the observed genetic diversity. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/epalrestat.html The numbers of DMs differed strongly between sites, but when present, they usually outnumbered both females and NMs. Low genetic differentiation was found at locality level. Genetic differentiation was strongest between cushions for females and NMs and within cushions for DMs indicating small scale structuring and sometimes inbreeding.